When it comes to kids specializing in just one sport, injury risk is a real concern for sports medicine doctors.
“We know that if you super specialize in the sport, particularly early on, that the risk of injury goes up anywhere by 30-50%,” said Dr. Nik Verma, director of sports medicine at Midwest Orthopaedics at RUSH.
Verma is also the head team physician for the Chicago White Sox and he said baseball is a prime example.
“We’re starting to see Tommy John procedures, which we would be typically be doing in college players, mostly minor league and professional athletes, now happening in kids as young as 12 or 13 years of age and, in fact, the majority of Tommy John’s are now done in patients under 18, versus patients over 18,” Verma said.
Overuse injuries are one concern, but there’s mental health risks as well.
“Mentally, there can be some factors of burn out, perfectionism,” said Dr. Kathy Weber, director of women’s sports medicine at Midwest Orthopaedics at RUSH.
Weber said more research is now centered on the impact of focusing on one sport.
“There’s this whole drive, thinking that if you specialize early, you’re gonna make it to the big leagues. And the reality is, is that’s not being shown,” Weber said.
“There’s zero scientific data or data if you look at progression of athletes over time, to suggest that early specialization in a single sport makes you any better later in life in that sport,” Verma said.
With participation in travel and club teams booming, Verma said parents need to remember those teams are part of a business.
“You need to have the participation in order to fund that service,” Verma said.
He also said it is important to leave peer pressure out of the decision-making process.
“You see every other kid in your neighborhood playing on all these different leagues. The kids are getting pressured to do it. And they really feel like they either have to commit or just not play and I don’t think that’s the right answer for the 95% of our kids,” Verma said.
“I’ve taken care of professional pitchers and they said they didn’t start pitching until they were in college. So specialization later, after puberty, seems to be more where we should be going,” Weber said.
After puberty could vary, depending on the child, but ages 15 to 17 are what Weber recommended.
Both doctors pointed out that sports for kids should be fun, a place where they can learn to be good teammates, a lesson they can carry throughout their lives.
